The student newspaper of South Plains College.

Professional football glamorized, lacks loyalty

One of the most popular sports in the country is football. The Super Bowl alone gets around 100 million views a year.

I love football, the energy and excitement. But I hate the NFL, and I refuse to watch professional football.

In college and high school football, people cheer for where they attend/attended school or their hometown school. There is loyalty in college and high school football that the NFL lacks. Followers of NFL teams often switch who they cheer for. That makes the experience feel cheap. You’re not actually invested in the team.

The only reason a player goes to the NFL is for a paycheck, while, for college players, it’s about more than that. It’s about the community, the team and school. College football is all about the loyalty and pride of the game.

Most people like college football because of the tradition and the sense of community. That’s what makes the sport great. The nostalgic feeling that you get every year in the fall when college football begins is something that cannot be compared. The traditions are more abundant and more meaningful.

It’s the same sport, but it’s two different games. Many people equate the two, because college games looks like pro games. Both take place in large stadiums under bright lights, with players in shiny uniforms, and is broadcasted to a national television audience.

College football players are just better at playing college football than NFL players are at playing NFL football. This is mainly because of how the two are structured. Rules and penalties between the two vary in several areas, including number of feet a receiver must have in bounds for a completed pass, down by contact rule, and defensive holding. Don’t you want to watch a better game with better players? You’re just flipping through channels watching what seems like the same game after game. Most fans like action, and there is more action at the college level.

Ideas and styles have moved from high school to college. Some of the most influential systems in college football have been introduced by coaches who started as high school coaches. Most NFL coaches have resisted the new ideas. NFL coaches and executives have blamed college offenses for a lack of NFL-ready quarterbacks and offensive linemen.

NFL games are about strategies, like a game of chess, while college games are about the skill of the players.

At this point, the NFL has become boring and glamorized just to make a profit. The whole point of professional football is to make money. It resembles professional wrestling at this point, cheap and played out.